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Why did the senior javelin specification
have to be changed?

by Erich Bremicker

(Translated from the original German by
Jürgen Schiffer)

ABSTRACT:

The author explains
why the IAAF Technical Committee decided to change the rules for javelin
construction. He describes the problems concerning the kind of changes, the
approval by various committees and the differences of changes between javelins
for male and female throwers and its reasons.

The
IAAF Technical Committee decided to change the rules for javelin construction
because of the increasingly frequent flat landings and the resulting discussions
and protests because of attempts declared valid or invalid by competition
judges.
During 1982 and 1983 extensive experiments were conducted with javelins
whose centre of gravity had been moved forward by 2, 3, 4 or 5 cm. Thanks to the
assistance of several manufacturers, numerous javelins were produced with the
required modifications and hundreds of throws were made by athletes in some
cases but mostly with the use of launching machines. The result was that a shift
in the centre of gravity by 3cm was sufficient to guarantee the javelin landing
point first. Even so, the majority view of the Technical Committee was that a
shift of 4cm should be proposed to the Congress to avoid a further possible
change within a few years caused by the necessity to reduce the throwing
distance once again. The basis of this idea was that every change of the
construction rules causes enormous costs. It was clear to all of us that a
reduction in the throwing distance achieved should also play a role in the
change to be made, because the world record at that time was 99.72m. In
demanding a change of the construction rules however, our primary goal was to
achieve an exactly measurable landing of the javelin so that it was no longer
completely up to the discretion of the judge on the infield to declare a throw
valid or in- valid.

The 'new' construction rules were fixed in 1983. At the beginning of
1984 they were added to the agenda for the Los Angeles Congress and, in May of
the same year, they were dispatched to all member federations of the IAAF. This
meant that all the precautionary measures for changing this rule at the Congress
to be held immediately prior to the Los Angeles Olympic Games were taken.
On July 20, 1984 (three weeks before the Olympic Games and two weeks
before the L.A. Congress), Uwe Hohn (GDR) hurled the javelin to the formidable
distance of 104.80m and ever since then the media have incorrectly reported that
this throw was the cause for the change in the rules. The information given
above clearly shows that this was not the case as applications for change to be
considered at the Congress had to be submitted to the member federations as
early as four months before the Congress.
On the subject of the 600g javelin, a similar change of rules in the
form of a forward shift of the centre of gravity was proposed to the Congress at
the same time, because it was our firm conviction that this would lead to the
same effect as far as landings were concerned as was the case with the men's
javelin. Unfortunately, the practical trials with the different variations of
600g javelin specification had not been done and this oversight meant that no
decision for change could be made. The change in the 800g javelin specification
was accepted by the Congress in 1984 and was brought into force from April 1,
1986 onwards, while the proposed change in the women's javelin had to be
rejected.
The consequence was that, from 1986 on- wards, there was an
unsatisfactory situation whereby in the men's events one could have actually
managed without the infield validity judge because every 800g javelin stuck in
the ground, while in the women's competitions there were still questionable
landings and subjective decisions being made.
Intensive observations of the javelin competitions at the 1986 European
Championships in Stuttgart, the 1987 Grand Prix Peugeot-Talbot Meeting in
London, the 1987 World Championships in Rome and the Olympic Games in Seoul in
1988, showed up 9bvious shortcomings and an urgent necessity for change. This
observational summary of specialist throwers at a world class event may serve as
an example: out of a total of 134 throws, 25 (= 18%) were declared invalid
because of flat landings. An additional 27 throws (= 20%) landed in the border
zone and were decided "generously" by the officials.

In the
heptathletes' javelin competition, 18 of 76 throws (= 240f0) were invalid and
there were an additional 31 (= 400f0) throws which landed in the border zone.
With strictly correct judging, four or five athletes would have left the stadium
without achieving a valid throw, i.e. with zero points.
It was quite clear that the only way to achieve a really fundamental
change was by shifting the centre of gravity of the javelin, but this was made
impossible at that time by the persistent refusal of the IAAF Women's Committee.
Therefore, a compromise had to be looked for. Once again experiments were
carried out in co-operation with the javelin manufacturers and it was agreed
that the changes made to the diameter of the men's javelin should be
incorporated on a proportionate basis to the women's javelin. This led to a
thickening of the rear part of the existing javelins, which debarred the
high-performance javelins for 70 or 80m.Although this brought about a slight
improvement in the number of 'legal' landings, the result was not really
satisfactory. However, it was simply impossible to do anything more at that
time. This rule change was accepted by the Congress in Barcelona in 1989 and was
brought into force on April 1, 1991.
Even with this rule change the discussions about questionable landings,
mainly in the heptathlon, did not stop as the problem had not been resolved.
At the request of the IMF Women's Committee, this state of affairs was
finally dealt with in 1996. A series of experiments with javelins with different
shifts in the centre of gravity by 1, 2, 3 and 4cm led to an application for a
change of the rule at the Athens Congress in 1997. The result was that the
centre of gravity was shifted by 3 cm (from 95 to 92cm). This rule change (which
was identical to the one the IMF Congress had dealt with in L.A. for the men's
event in 1984) was brought into effect on April 1, 1999.
The rule change was introduced approximately two years after the
approval by Congress in order to give manufacturers enough time to produce the
new javelins. Unlike the change of the 800g javelin in 1984/85. the time set
aside was unfortunately not used optimally by the manufacturers so that there
were some delivery difficulties in the spring of 1999. The problems were
subsequently rectified and the performances
achieved in competition during the 2000 season have demonstrated that all the
intentions associated with the necessary change of rules have been achieved.